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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Fleur de French

Hey everyone! So I had a little more free time on my hands this week so I tried to make this post a little more thoughtful. Hope you enjoy! Oh and thanks to all my readers and my subscriber's because this past week I finally hit 1,000 page views! Yayyy! Thanks for everyone's support! If you haven't done so already, like my blog using the face book link at the left side of my page (towards the top) and help me get more likes and another thousand views!

So anyway, I have a reflective post for you today and a bit of history because I am somewhat of a dork.

So after flipping through my stamping plates, I decided to use the Fleur de Lis design because I had never used it before. Now according to Wikipedia and several internet sources, the Fleur de Lis (pronounced fleur day lee) is a stylized lily, which translates in French literally to "flower lily". While the origin of this symbol has been debated and is still unclear, it seems that the symbol (or something similar to) it has been found on Greek and Roman coins suggesting it is quite old. However, currently the symbol it is most known for being associated with French royalty.

So, what does French royalty have to do with me, you ask? Well, sad to say I am not French royalty (though as a kid I always thought my grandmother would some day reveal that I was a princess, just like Mia Thermopolis in the Princess Diaries - major props to those of you who know what I'm talking about). However, my last name is French and translates to pretty heart.

As a kid, my last name was always something of a bother. During roll call in school, my teachers would always attempt to say my last name, as if it presented a unique challenge for them to overcome. So after Mary Brown and Susan Diaz, my teachers would attempt to say, Cassandra Jolicoeur (actual pronunciation: sho-lee-ker). Long story short, for several years my teachers would either fumble through my name or say, "Do you know that your name is French? It means happy heart".

To me, this was always the equivalent of someone whose misfortune it was to be named Marco...when you first meet Marco, you immediately have to shout out Polo... it almost seems unethical not to do so...but then somewhere in the back of Marco's mind you know he's thinking, "Right, like I haven't heard that one before".

So yes, over the years I learned from several teachers that my last name, Jolicoeur, translates to pretty heart. As I got older, I grew to like my last name and it's uniqueness (despite the fact that I am actually Haitian, and not French). And for this manicure, I decided to do something Frenchy to acknowledge my last name.

And yes, that was a ridiculously long explanation. So, finally I present to you my French, but not really French nails....

For this design I used a gradient technique layering white, grey and a darker grey (white on, hazy, black star) going from the bed of my nail to the tip and stamped the fleur de lis design using Konad's red polish. At first I wasn't too sure if I liked this manicure but after a few hours it grew on me. I like that the white makes it stand out so it sort of looks like it might be a nail sticker. My favorite part of this manicure is definitely the fact that the red fleur de lis's stand out so much in red. When I did my top coat over them, they started to bleed a little bit which at first annoyed me, but over all, I think the affect sort of added to my manicure. The entire nail design seems reminiscent of old wall paper and has a "vintagey" look to it.